The Lake Victoria Haplochromine cichlids are a unique and highly endangered 'species flock' of over 400 historic species of which perhaps 200 remain extant in either the lake, or in captivity (Warmolts 1994). Lake Victoria, the second largest lake in the world, (based on surface area) is bordered by the countries of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The introduction of exotic species into this ecosystem, over-harvesting, and eutrophication have all contributed to the collapse of this assemblage of cichlid species. In the late 1980's Dr. Les Kaufman of the New England aquarium brought the plight of these fish to the attention of public aquariums in the United States. Dr. Kaufman spearheaded the captive maintenance of those species he was able to acquire from Africa and Europe as well as developed the first studbook. Doug Warmolts and his staff at the Columbus Zoo became active in the program early on, and remain one of the major contributors to the SSP program. In 1994 Joe Norton (while at the Tennessee Aquarium) became the species coordinator and Jay Hemdal of the Toledo Zoo became the regional studbook keeper. In April, 1997 Joe Norton resigned as species coordinator in order to pursue a career change. Jay agreed to act as species coordinator until the Freshwater Fishes Taxon Advisory Group selects a new coordinator.